ArtPrize today unveiled its list of speakers appearing at eight events events as well as plans to bring students from area colleges downtown for two weeks of conversations.

Curators, writers, teachers and museum directors will speak in the series sponsored by Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.

But the speakers' varied careers and backgrounds also include a former economist, an animator, a bilingual author and a city planner among the eight.

ArtPrize 2010 Speaker Series

The following are evening events, 7-8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday. Doors open at 6 p.m. Cash bar available.

-- Sept. 27 -- Hasan Bakhshi, director of Creative Industries in the Policy and Research Unity at the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts in London.

-- Sept. 28 -- Adam Lerner, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and chief animator in the Department of Fabrications.

-- Sept. 29 -- Brett Colley, Norwood Viviano, Deborah Rockman and David Greenwood, art educators from Grand Valley State University and Kendall College of Art and Design, who collectively are the jurors for the ArtPrize International Award

-- Oct. 4 -- Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, co-director and curator of the Athens Biennale and former director of the DESTE Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Arts.

-- Oct. 6 -- Patricia Phillips, curator and dean of graduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design.

The following are afternoon events, 12 noon-1 p.m. Fridays. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. Lunch available.

-- Oct. 1 -- Jeff Speck, city planner and architectural designer and former director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts.

-- Oct. 8 -- Raphaela Platow andJulie Rodrigues Widholm, the former is director and chief curator at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, and the latter is associate curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Several of the speakers are jurors for the second annual exhibition and competition offering nearly $450,000 in prize money to the Top 10 artists, chosen by the public, casting votes through social media.

Patricia Phillips, dean of graduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design; Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, co-director of the Athens Biennale; and Jeff Speck, city planner and architectural designer, also serve as the jurors for ArtPrize 2010's Curatorial Awards in the categories of 2D, 3D and Urban Space respectively.

Each of the four curatorial awards is worth at least $5,000 or $20,000 in all.

Deborah Rockman and David Greenwood of Kendall College and Brett Colley and Norwood Viviano of Grand Valley State University collectively will choose the ArtPrize 2010 International Award.

Public talks beginning Sept. 27 will be held in the Old Federal Building, which ArtPrize has dubbed "The Hub" for this year's event. Last year the Old Federal Building served as ArtPrize's headquarters as well as an exhibition venue.

Evening events will be held at 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with afternoon talks at 12 noon on Friday. Eight programs in all will take place over two weeks during ArtPrize, which opens Sept. 22 and ends Oct. 10.